ISSUE #19 cont'd -- Inspiring quotes

THOUGHTS & FEELINGS

OF WORTHLESSNESS

I know some of us can sometimes get really down on ourselves and feel as if we are such a failure as a human being, that we are worthless. I'm reading David D Burns' book "Feeling Good" and I really like what he says about those thoughts and feelings.

... the first step is to stop telling yourself you are worthless. However, you probably won't be able to do this until you become absolutely convinced that these statements are incorrect and unrealistic.

How can this be accomplished? You must first consider that a human life is an ongoing process that involves a constantly changing physical body as well as an enormous number of rapidly changing thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Your life therefore is an evolving experience, a continual flow. You are not a thing; that's why any label is constricting, highly inaccurate, and global. Abstract labels such as "worthless" or "inferior" communicate nothing and mean nothing.  

Your error is in emotional reasoning. Your feelings do not determine your worth, simply your relative state of comfort or discomfort. .... because you are in a temporarily depressed mood, you are thinking illogically and unreasonably about yourself.

And finally ....

Your sense of worthlessness is not based on truth, it is just the abscess which lies at the core of depressive illness.